Israel arrests Islamic Jihad suspects over bus attack

January 02, 2014|Reuters

JERUSALEM, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities said onThursday they had arrested four suspected members of thePalestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in connection with abomb attack on a bus in a Tel Aviv suburb last month.

The passengers, alerted to a suspicious bag, evacuated thebus minutes before the bomb went off on Dec. 22. A policeexplosives expert was lightly wounded in the blast, which waspowerful enough to blow out the vehicle's windows.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency said in a statement thatfour Palestinians from the West Bank town of Bethlehem had beenarrested - three suspected of preparing the bomb, one of bringing it to the bus.

One of the first three is a member of the Palestinian policeforce, said the statement, which came after a court lifted a gagorder on the case. Ten other people have been arrested for"infrastructure activities", it said without giving details, andthe investigation is continuing.